Women's Labor Movements: Detroit
Not much later, in Detroit in 1937, clerks and other workers, all women, stage a sit-down strike at the Woolworth store in Detroit, Michigan. They occupied the store for seven days and won on a broad range of issues.
The Detroit woman's cigar industry strike of 1930 is able to find its place within a larger context and as part of the development nationwide of gender-specific labor strikes. More strikes conducted prior to and following the cigar strike were in protest of other industries that employed large numbers of women as well: including wartime manufacturing, automotive, food production, and textiles, to name a few.
Today, women are still active protestors in labor and employment policy. Pictured above, women join men in advocating for a raise in the minimum wage in Detroit.
A timeline of women's labor movements across the nation in the 20th century can be found below.
The results of these strikes varied, but overall, a successful trend of gains in labor and employment advancements for women may be identified.
THE POLITICAL CLIMATE OF WOMEN'S LABOR RIGHTS TODAY
Thanks to the efforts of brave women throughout the course of history, like those who participated in Detroit cigar industry strikes, the future ambitions of women in the workforce are more attainable today. In American industry at present, women are fighting for equal pay, guaranteed maternity leave, and healthcare benefits that include and do not charge female employees a premium for insurance coverage of birth control methods. Beyond these tangible goals, many women aspire to work in environments where co-workers of their gender make up more than a minority of their workplace, where sexual harassment is uncommon, and where sexism is eradicated.
In 2009, President Obama signs into law the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964, giving victims of gender wage discrimination a new 180-day period for filing an equal-pay lawsuit with each new discriminatory paycheck. Is the same year, President Obama establishes the White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that American women and girls "are treated fairly in all matters of public policy like equal pay, family leave, child care and others." He emphasized that these are not just women’s issues, they are family issues and economic issues. (11.)
REFERENCES:
(11.) Georgetown University and South Side Seattle University. "SELECTED TIMELINE OF WOMEN'S LABOR HISTORY." 1989. Accessed November 16, 2014. http://georgetown.southseattle.edu/documents/LERC/Womens%20Labor%20History%20Timeline%20for%20Website.pdf.
"Trying to raise a family on fast-food salary."
Rueters.com
"Obama signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act."
Americanprogress.org
"Lilly Ledbetter."
cmich.edu